


Barnstorming: Laudanum

by Telesilla



Series: Barnstorming [4]
Category: Baseball RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Baseball, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 15:23:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telesilla/pseuds/Telesilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Searching Posey's luggage only answers one of Hunter's questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barnstorming: Laudanum

**Author's Note:**

> As always...series is a big huge WIP.

Later, after the second game, Hunter offers to help Belt get their stuff back to the rooming house. It's a good long walk from the field; they went ahead and rented an old buggy to carry their gear. The rest of the team is headed toward the best saloon in town, the local nine mixing with them, all of them rehashing the game.

"Don't have to help," Belt says as Hunter helps him load.

Hunter tries not to roll his eyes. Belt never wants help, and for the most part, he doesn't need it. Among his many other talents, he's surprisingly good with horses, especially with the nags you get when you rent a cheap buggy and he doesn't seem to mind the job.

"Maybe I wanted to."

Once the gear's loaded, Hunter hops up next to Belt. Belt's been with the team longer than Hunter has and Hunter's tempted to ask him about Posey. He thinks better of it though; gossiping about the manager is a good way to get kicked off the team. If Belt knows about Lincecum and Posey, then he clearly doesn't care. And if he knows about whatever is going on with Posey's head, well it's not the kind of thing you talk about. And if he doesn't know anything, Hunter doesn't want to be the one to bring it up.

"You going back out again after we unload all this stuff?" Hunter asks.

"Nah." Belt shakes his head. "I told Mrs. Stinson that I'd help her get some repairs done. She'll take some off our bill."

"Repairs?" Hunter asks. "Or _repairs_?"

"I'm helping her fix some shelves in the pantry, asshole." Belt pauses for effect. "If she wants something else, that's up to her."

Their landlady isn't too hard on the eyes for all that she's got at least twenty years on Belt. "You dog," Hunter says with a smile.

"People get lonely."

Hunter gets the feeling Belt's not just talking about Mrs. Stinson, and he can't help wondering if Belt knows that he's rarely alone. Right now, Hunter can't feel Belt's ghosts, but there's usually at least one of them around him most of the time. Unlike Bumgarner's ghost, which is bound to him and kind of angry about it, Belt's ghosts are benign. In fact, they seem to want to be with Belt, which is unusual in Hunter's experience. 

Given that Lincecum asked about Bum, Hunter has to assume that shadows Posey mentioned are actually ghosts. If it were just ghosts, Hunter would assume Posey was just an untrained Sensitive coming into his power late. It's the black and yellow thing with wings that has Hunter worried.

This team, Hunter thinks. It seems like everyone on it is hiding something, which probably explains why Hunter was was sent to join them. If he was sent. It's not always clear and if there's no reason for him to be on this team, well, he'll have a summer spent playing ball to show for it, which is better than some of the other things he's had to do.

By the time they reach the boarding house, Hunter's still not sure what he's going to say to Posey. First of all, he wants to know what Lincecum's giving Posey. Hunter's got a pretty good guess, which is confirmed when he gets a chance to look in Posey's gear bag. There, nestled in his glove, is a bottle of laudanum. A big bottle.

If Hunter had seen it before today, he'd have just assumed that Posey still suffered occasional pain after the gruesome injury that had ended his time with the Gothams. Now he finds himself wondering how long Posey's been taking laudanum and if he's dependent on it. He doesn't act like an addict, aside from seeing things that aren't there, of course. Lincecum seems to be tolerant, even understanding, but Hunter's not sure if that's because they're lovers or just because Posey's been like this for as long as Lincecum's known him.

Once he's done searching Posey's bag, he sets it and Lincecum's bag down in a corner. They have the only room with a bathtub and Hunter gives serious thought to hauling up some water, but no--tomorrow's laundry day. He can wait and wash when he's got clean clothes to put on. He does search the room, though. There isn't much to find. Lincecum's got more clothes than Posey and they're nicer, but that's not a surprise; he's a bit of a dandy. There's a bottle of sweet almond oil on the nightstand, which could be for someone's skin or glove, but Hunter's pretty sure it's for something else.

He supposes he should be shocked and maybe even disgusted, but when you've seen what Hunter's seen, sodomy doesn't seem all that serious a thing. He's met rough and tumble cowboys who share bedrolls for more than warmth and satin-clad dance hall girls who will come at you with a knife if you look at their roommate the wrong way. 

People, as Belt said, get lonely.

The shadows outside are getting long; when Hunter checks his watch, it's already past seven. Posey and the rest of the team have probably already finished dinner at the saloon. Since the team isn't playing tomorrow and they're not leaving until, there will be some serious drinking going on. Hunter doubts anyone will be in before midnight.

The thought pulls Hunter up short as he tries to remember if he's ever seen Posey drunk. Everyone else, yes. Although Posey drinks with the team, now that Hunter thinks about it, he's never seen Posey get well and truly soused. It makes sense; most Sensitives Hunter's known haven't liked losing control. Then again, most of them have been able to control their talents without resorting to opium.

Hunter looks around the room, wondering if there's anything to learn by more subtle methods. He doesn't sense anything out of the ordinary, however, and he's a little worried about what will happen if Posey starts seeing things in the middle of a bunch of drunk ballplayers. To be fair, Lincecum will look out for him and after he beat the hell out of a couple of drunks last night, no one in town is going to give Lincecum any crap. Still, Hunter's hungry; he might as well head over and get some food.


End file.
